He needed to be kinder to himself than that.
“Are you done with that?” one of the employees asked, startling him when she appeared next to him and grabbed his empty cup. Dylan looked up to see her pointing at the cup Steve had been drinking from.
It looked like he’d only taken a few sips. Dylan frowned, hoping he hadn’t distracted Steve from enjoying his coffee.
“Yeah, sorry. It isn’t mine,” Dylan said, leaning over to grab the cup and hand it to her. “Thank you.”
“No worries. Can I get you anything else?”
Dylan checked the time on his phone, realizing that his discussion group was meeting in less than ten minutes. He hurriedly shoved his laptop into his bag and rose to his feet. He smiled at the woman, shaking his head. “No, thank you, I was just leaving. Have a nice day!”
He yanked on his jacket and lifted his backpack over his shoulder, rushing out of the coffee shop as he mentally calculated how long it would take him to get to his discussion group.
All thoughts of werewolves pushed aside by the sudden anxiety of having to explain to his professor why he was late, Dylan started running.
4
RYKER
Ryker stood next to the kitchen island, dressed for work in a dark gray suit while scarfing down a bowl of oatmeal and waiting for August to finish getting dressed.
“August?” Ryker walked down the hall. “You’re not going to have time to eat breakfast unless you hurry up.”
There was no reply, and Ryker rolled his eyes.
It had been a tense weekend. August was resentful about Ryker’s reservations about the human he’d met online, offended that Ryker didn’t trust his judgment, while Ryker was constitutionally unable to put his suspicions to rest until he’d actually met the boy.
While Ryker loved August to death, his mate could be a little too trusting.
Ryker had thought they were fine, after their argument on Friday night, but then he’d made some stupid comment when they went for their morning run on Saturday, and August had been in a huff ever since.
“August?” Ryker turned into the bedroom where he found August sitting on the bed, tying his shoes. “I made oatmeal.”
August finished tying his shoes and rose. Dressed for work in his usual white shirt, tie and dress pants, he looked good enough to eat. Unlike Ryker who wore a full suit to work every day, August usually forewent a jacket in favor of a white doctor’s coat. He walked past Ryker into the hall, fixing his tie.
“I’ll grab a muffin at work,” he said, making his way to the elevator. Ryker followed, watching with exasperation as August angrily put on a thick woolen coat.
It took effort not to say anything. August was a grownup, and if he wanted to skip breakfast like an idiot, that was his business.
Ryker had long ago made his peace with the fact that forcing August to do anything was a surefire way to make them both miserable.
“Do you want to meet for lunch?” Ryker grabbed his own coat from the closet, putting it on and buttoning it up before grabbing his leather gloves.
“I’m pretty busy today.”
Ryker took a deep breath and quieted the growl building in his chest. August was so fucking annoying when he got pouty.
“Fine. Whatever.”
They walked into the elevator and rode down to the underground parking garage in silence. When the doors opened, August turned left to go to his car without even so much as a word goodbye.
Ryker grabbed him by the back of his coat and pulled him back.
“What?” August turned around, glaring.
“Not even a kiss goodbye?” Ryker took a step closer, sliding the pleated collar of August’s woolen coat between his thumb and index finger. “We’re not that angry with each other, are we?”
August huffed, but the corner of his lips twitched in the beginning of a smile.
